The Erie County District Attorney's office announced a jury has returned a guilty verdict in the murder trial of 32-year-old Erik Donaldson for the shooting death of his friend in 2008.
The panel reached the decision in just over eight hours of deliberations.
The jury convicted Donaldson of murder in the second degree for fatally shooting his friend, 22-year-old Christian Thomas of Buffalo. The victim's body was found in an area between two houses on Montana Street on April 8, 2008.
Thomas, who had been missing since December 30, 2007, had been shot in the face and the back.
Donaldson faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on September 13, 2017 at 9:30 a.m.
